"I could buy a halfling," Annika says as Markus shows them the tracks. "That would explain the lack of shoes." She nods for him to continue leading the way while she keeps an eye out for danger.
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Annika keeps one hand on her blade's hilt as the group makes their way inland. "Well, aren't they confidant," the half-elf drawls as they come across the obvious signs of the Consortium's passing. "We're going to have to remind them that we're not so easily messed with."
The half-elf can't keep a smile off her face as the sailors all seem to rally behind them. Markus might be slightly paranoid, but he does have a great deal of force of personality. "You seem to know your wilderness survival," Annika says as she adjusts her sword belt and pulls on her heavier gauntlet. "Lead the way and I'll make sure to watch our backs."
Annika takes the spear and blade with a moment of hesitation. Then she flicks the blade across the bandit's skin, drawing a thin line of red from under his skin. Well... that's something else." She passes the weapons back to him and draws her own dagger, cutting a small line and drawing a few drops of her own blood. "I'm Annika Valarius. My father is a Spire Elf and he sent me lots of books on Azlant. I'm the only person in Riddleport that I know is totally fluent in the language. I taught a few buddies at the Cipher Lodge a few things."
As dawn comes, Annika wakes up and rubs her eyes, feeling her head aching and her muscles stiff. Her dreams left her tossing and turning all night and she feels vaguely ill until she gets some water and clears her head in the sunlight. "Well, I guess we're not going to get anything useful out of him anymore," she mutters as she looks at the captain's shriveled body. "I guess we should get started on exploring the island. The colonists have to be somewhere."
"It just flew away in that direction," Annika says, pointing into the darkness. "I'm guessing the captain is done for."
"Everyone up and at 'em!" Annika calls out as the shadowy thing takes off. "The captain's cloak is doing something!"
Annika liked to think of herself as a fairly light sleeper. So when she hears a rustling sound, her eyes snap open and one hand snaps to her blade. After the last day or so, she feels justified in being willing to jump for her sword so quickly. Then she sees the shadowy cloak lifting away and disappearing into the distance.
Annika wordlessly pulls out her cord of rope and tosses it over to Marcus. "They're incredibly slippery, so we should keep him under heavy guard even if he is tied up."
"His species is older than Azlant's fall, but he's probably not. I don't think stalkers are immortal or anything like that. But I want to know why he was spying on us. If he was at all. He might have just been using the expedition for something entirely unrelated."
"Hold on just a moment," Annika says, holding out a hand to Marcus. "Maybe we should keep him alive longer. If he recovers enough to talk, maybe we can question him. I don't like this, but I like not knowing what's going on even less."
What little color was left in Annika's face drains away as something in the back of her mind nags at her. "He's a faceless stalker," she manages after a few moments. "They're shapeshifters and known to be infiltrators for monstrous aboleths. Some people even think they had something to do with the fall of Azlant..." Her head spins. "Have we been played this entire time?"
Annika helps haul the crates of supplies back to camp through the darkness. At the very least the Aspis goons won't be coming after them for a while. Unfortunately, little has changed by the time they get back. She watches as Gallidren examines the poor captain, but her breath catches in her throat as he touches his skin and a strangled choking sound emerges from her lips. "What?" she finally manages.
No stranger to creeping around after dark, Annika stays low and quiet, keeping a lookout for any watchmen.
"I grew up in Riddleport. I know better than to do something silly like getting caught."
"I can handle a little rain. And someone has to go looking for the colonists. They're doomed if the Aspis agents catch up to them before we can get them somewhere safe."
Annika finds herself growing slightly more uneasy as they trek into the island looking for shelter. "Does this island seem unusually barren to anyone else? There's just... nothing here. I haven't even heard bird cries. It's creepy."
"I can get behind that plan. Maybe there's somewhere on this island that we can hole up. Like a cave. Oh! Or maybe some ancient ruins!"
Annika and Marcus make their return to the rest of the group quietly, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to their now safely hidden trail. "Hang on a sec," she says as she watches the party trying to heal the captain. "This looks really familiar. I think I saw a guy back in Riddleport get like this after he got stabbed. But that knife was..." Her eyes light up. "Poisoned!"
Annika unfortunately does not have said skills. I was hoping someone else would post with something to do.
"Then we'll beat them back if they do. We can't leave him like this." Annika is visibly grateful when Janus hoists the captain up onto his back. She silently wishes she'd learned a few tricks from one of the street alchemists in Riddleport before going off to the middle of nowhere.
I'm okay either way honestly.
Seeing Markus running around and beginning to sabotage the ship, Annika quickly jumps up to help him. Growing up in a pirate port at least gave her a general idea of how ships work, and how to sabotage one. Once she's done what she can without telekinesis, she takes a position where she's out of immediate sight and waits for the enemy ships to approach.
"Whether we plan to keep this ship or try to hijack one of theirs, we still need to get the passengers to safety before we can try anything clever," Annika points out. "Otherwise this whole expedition falls apart." She grips the hilt of her sword tightly. In theory, she actually knows a fair bit about deck fighting. In practice, she never left Riddleport long enough to get a lot of practical experience. It certainly looks like she's going to now though.
Annika tosses and turns through the night, curling in on herself as the nearly supernatural feeling of something wrong refuses to leave her. Whatever it is, it seems like their journey is going to be getting harder very quickly. "Oh boy..." Annika sighs. "Looks like the consortium isn't taking rejection well. Somehow I'm not surprised." She hops down and rushes to the captain's cabin door and raps her knuckles against the door. She's not sure if he's there, but it's better than standing around wondering what's going on.
"I'll make sure to do just that captain, sir." Annika gives a slightly exaggerated salute before wandering off to get some rest until they arrive on the island. She wants to be fresh and ready when they make landfall. It would suck to find the island inhabited by something nasty and not be in top shape.
"A deserted island with a mystery?" A huge grin split Annika's face. It sounds like exactly the kind of adventure that she was looking for when she signed on to the voyage.
"I have a feeling that's going to bite us in the ass later..." Annika mutters as the pissed off Aspis agent takes his leave. "But I guess it's too late to do anything about it now. Not that there were a lot of options to begin with I guess." She sighs and rubs her eyes. Growing up in the rough part of a bad town made it easy to tell when someone was the big man on the block, and Aspis certainly thought they were if their agent was any indication.
"I swear I said something about not provoking a fight..." Annika mutters. Though she doesn't look particularly like she wants to apologize to the man either.
"Oh joy," Annika mutters when they're finally close enough for the flag to be visible. "Be ready to fight, but don't provoke them. That's the Aspis Consortium. I've met pirates who are nicer people than the average Aspis Agent. They're usually 'business men' but they'll stab you in the back if they think it's profitable."
"We might..." She stops and considers if she's heard about ships with red sails from her time in Riddleport.
I was going to correct Annika's statement when I realized that he meant the Hold of Belkzan, not the hold of the ship, but I think it fits her personality too well to keep.
I'm good to move on whenever.
Annika seems to perk up a little bit. "A bit rough, especially with the sahugain trying to get at supplies more than just going after people. But it was well within our skills."
"Annika from Riddleport," the half-elf says, offering a hand to the large half-orc. "It's a pleasure to meet you properly." She looks past him to the only person on deck taller than the half-orcs. "And you're... Janus, right? I think we met when we boarded the ship."
"Your grandfather sounds like he was a fascinating person," Annika says earnestly. She smiles at the platypus. "I'd offer to shake hands, but I don't think he really can anymore. It's a pleasure to meet you Chief. My father's people also favor the water, but they sail the open ocean far more than any river."
"I regretfully agree," Annika says. "If they don't want us here, they're going to come again, probably more than once." She sighs and runs her hand through her hair. So much for having a nice quiet trip. Still, what would an adventure be without some monsters to fight and people to save?
Once Annika saves as much of the supplies as she can, she drags the sahugain behind her and heads up top along with the rest of the crew to take stock of the battle. "I can't say for sure," she says, hauling the bound shark creature behind her. "But maybe we should ask. This one's not quite dead yet." She shoves the creature forward, letting it flop on the deck.
Annika considers her options for a moment. Then she grabs some rope and binds the sahugain tight, making sure that he can't claw his way free easily. The captain can decide if he wants to question it, or if she should just decapitate the damned thing. Then she hurries to scavenge as much of the damaged supplies as she could. Years on the streets have given her a decent eye for finding useful things.
"I don't have time for this." Annika circles around the boxes again and raises her hand. "If you want to play games, join the circus, not a raiding party." She shouts another word in archaic elvish and a burst of multicolored light erupts through the hold, bathing the sahugain in energy.
Annika runs down the next monster, but weaving around the crates and supplies makes it difficult to catch up.
Annika sways back out of the way of the sahugain's strike, remembering the lessons on fighting on a ship from her books. She speaks another word and arcane energy coats her blade before she twists and leans back in, trying to slash across the monsters chest.
"Now that's just senseless," Annika mutters. She mutters a few words in a very outdated form of Elven, sheathing her blade in lightning before she steps forward and drives the charged blade into the monster's gut.
I'm good. Just couldn't quite tell where I needed to move and how far it was.
Annika sighs. "We can't let it get away!" She rushes to follow after the fleeing sahuagin.
Annika hisses as the creature stabs into her leg, but twists and retaliates with a swift slash, carving her slim blade across the creature's chest. "Begone sharp spawn."
"Gods damn it," Annika mutters. She can't allow the monsters to get at innocent people. She rushes up to the upper hatch and leaps clear over the sahaugin's head, dropping down to the lower level with a clean flip.
It works for me as long as I sign in to Roll20 first. It might be that it's restricted if you're not logged in as a player in the game.
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